Graduation game

ABSTRACT

A board game played by multiple players to simulate experiences and satisfaction from graduating through all levels of an education system from elementary school to high school through college and university to obtain diplomas, undergraduate degrees, masters degrees and doctorates. The players roll dice having color coded side faces and symbols on certain side faces to simulate the experiences encountered in successfully obtaining credits to graduate from one educational level to another. Question and answer game cards are provided with degrees of difficulty corresponding to the educational levels to provide an additional control of players earning credits to graduate from one educational level to the next higher educational level.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a board game in which multiple playerssimulate the experiences encountered at all levels of an educationsystem starting at the elementary level and proceeding through the highschool level, the college level and the university level including thebachelors degree level, the masters degree level, and the doctoratelevel. The game includes a game board of circular configuration dividedinto a plurality of arcuate segments depicting the levels of aneducation system upon which color markers or knobs will be placed toindicate the progress of the players as a game proceeds. The game alsoincludes control cards with questions and answers and dice having colorschemes or indica on the faces of the dice and symbols indicatingvarious situations which may be encountered by a student whenprogressing through the various levels of the education system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various types of board games that relate to educational objectives existin which results are determined by chance devices such as dice orcontrol cards which may include questions and answers which can bedivided into various categories of subject matter encountered by astudent or player with various rules of play controlling the proceduralsteps followed in a game and determining the winner or winners inaccordance with those rules.

Many previously developed games require players to recall specificinformation regarding various events and may involve various fields ofendeavor such as sports, military actions, catastrophic events,political events, historical events and the like. Accordingly, suchgames that require specific information to play the games do not requirethe players to analyze situations, determine the results of variousactivities and make rational decisions in order to properly play thegames to an advantageous result.

Typical of prior art game disclosure appears in published patentapplication U.S. 2003/0218302 that was published Nov. 27, 2003 andincludes various game pieces, questions and answers relating to imagesof postage stamps.

In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,019,370 issued Feb. 1, 2000 discloses aneducational board game which includes a game board having printedindicia thereon, rules of play, dice, question and answer cards and thelike. This patent includes a listing of numerous prior patents relatingto various types of board games utilizing various control devices forplaying games in accordance with various rules of play.

While various prior art board games relate to educational experiences,they do not utilize a progression of educational experiences from aprimary educational level through high school, colleges, universitiesand the like, with the degree of knowledge required becoming moredifficult as the players of the game proceed through different levels ofthe education system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a game which requiresknowledge with the game being fun filled, educational and entertainingby providing players with the simulated experience of graduating throughvarious levels of an educational system by the players acquiring thenecessary skills and knowledge, by earning credits in order to proceedfrom a lower level to an upper level of the educational system.

Another object of the invention is to provide an educational game thatis unique as the players can play the game even though they may havedifferent intellectual capabilities. The game of the present inventionwill provide a highly desirable educational and entertaining product inthe form of a game that is especially adapted for use by parents andteachers to enhance the gain of knowledge of their children or studentsthrough various educational levels.

A further object of the invention is to provide a game including a gameboard of circular configuration having a planar surface divided into aplurality of radial sections by radial lines extending from a centralcircle of the game board to the outer periphery. A plurality of gamepieces that are color coded will be placed on the circular game board torepresent credits earned at the various educational levels. Such gamepieces may be in the form of buttons or knobs that are color coded. Thegame also includes six color coded cubes or dice on which the sides havecolors and in some instances symbols or letters or other indicia toindicate various educational experiences. Also, the game includes aplurality of question and answer cards for each level of the educationalsystem. The game involves the use of knowledge, intelligence, analyticalcapabilities of various degrees of difficulty commensurate with thelevel of the educational system and also includes elements of chance andluck to enhance the satisfaction of players competing throughout theeducational levels, to become the first player to earn the necessarycredits to graduate from each of the six levels of the education systemand ultimately bestowed the honor of summa cum laude graduate and winnerof the game.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of constructions andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numeral refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a circular game board illustrating arepresentative embodiment of the shape and configuration of the segmentsthereof.

FIG. 2 is a plan view simulating a section of the game board and anexemplary detail of the different levels of the educational system asthey will appear in the circular game board shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a group plan view illustrating the dice, the color codes oncertain sides of the dice and the symbols on certain sides of the dicewith each of the dice having different symbols indicating certainexperiences which may be encountered by players at the differenteducational levels in each level of the educational system.

FIG. 3A is a group plan view of an alternate group of dice withdifferent symbols and indicia.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of the top and bottom surfaces ofquestion and answer game cards.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of one credit marker to be placed onto theempty spaces of the game board representing the various levels ofeducation to signify credit earned through a correct response to aquestion at a particular level or a credit earned as a result of rollingthe dice.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Although one preferred embodiment of the invention is explained indetail, it is to be understood that other embodiments are possible.Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention is to be limited inits scope to the details of constructions and arrangement of componentsset forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings.The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced orcarried out in various ways. Also, in describing the preferredembodiments, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake ofclarity. It is to be understood that each specific term includes alltechnical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish asimilar purpose.

The graduation game illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings includes acircular game board 10 having a planar upper surface 12 preferablyconstructed of substantially rigid cardboard, wood, metal or any othersuitable material on which markings can be made. The game board 10includes six inner circles 14 and six radial division lines 16 whichform six triangular sections 18 of equal shape and dimension withnumerical indicia 20 printed on each section. The game board 10 alsoincludes generally descriptive terminology 22 of the different levels ofthe educational system including the elementary level, the high schoollevel, the college level and the university level and at the center ofthe game board, the designation of “Summa Cum Laude”.

FIG. 2 is a depiction of the different levels of the educational systemas they will appear on the circular game board to indicate the differentnumber of spaces at each of the six levels onto which the credits earnedby the different players at the six different levels of the educationsystem, as represented by credit markers 52 (shown in FIG. 6), areplaced to record successful answering of the question or credits earnedthrough rolling the dice. The single circular area in the center of thegame board represents an area to be capped the winner of a game with thedesignation of “Summa Cum Laude”.

FIGS. 3 and 3A are group views of the dice used in the graduation gamewith a symbol color or indicia 42, 44 appearing on certain sides of thedice with the significance of the symbols and the color codes beingillustrated centrally in FIGS. 3 and 3A.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of game cards 46 with questions 48and answers 50 thereon with the question and the answer on one end ofthe card and a further elaboration of the answer (not shown) on theother end. One of the surfaces of the cards will be colored in one ofthe four colors representing the four distinct educational group levels.The other surface of the cards may be plain or colored. The cards mayinclude a legend of the general grouping of the question, such as“Philosophy”.

Typically, each graduation game includes the game board 10 for up to sixplayers and six color coded cubes or dice. The game also includes 126buttons or knobs which serve as credit markers with 36 knobs of the samecolor representing credits to be earned at the elementary level, 30knobs of the same color to represent credits to be earned at the highschool level, 24 knobs of the same color representing credits to beearned at the college level, and 36 knobs of the same color representingcredits to be earned at the university level, including bachelors,masters and doctorate levels.

The game also includes a pack of 126 question and answer cards with twocards for each question and answer with 36 cards at the elementarylevel, 30 cards at the high school level, 24 cards at the college level,and 36 cards at the university level. Having the same questions andanswer printed on two different cards in the pack enhances the playerschance of correctly answering a question. One of the credit markers 52at each of the four distinct educational levels will be numbered 1-6 foreach of the six player domains to identify each player's academicstanding during a game.

The formulation of the questions and answers on the cards and thedifficulty of the questions are adapted to the different levels of aneducation system. The rules cannot be changed during a game and allplayers must comply with the established rules.

Each level of the education system would be reflected by differentdegrees of difficulty of the questions. The questions 48 would beprinted on the front side of each card 46 with the answer 50 to theparticular question 48 being printed on the same side of each card 46but in an upside down relationship as illustrated in FIG. 4.

In playing the game, the first player to earn the necessary credits tograduate through all six levels of education would be considered thewinner and obtains the privilege of capping the Summa Cum Laude levelmarker as shown in FIG. 1. A player can acquire credits by eitherrolling the color cubes or dice or by testing other players on theinformation on the question and answer cards. While a player may earncredits at any level during the course of the game, a player may bequalified to graduate at a particular level only after earning thecredits needed to graduate at the previous levels.

Only the questions on the question and answer cards may be asked duringthe course of the game. The correct answer to each question must beaccepted as the one given on the card.

A game begins with each player tossing the dice in turn and the color ofthe dice facing upwardly determines the level and number of creditsearned by each player. The circular game board, the 36 surfaces on thedice, the details of the credit markers 52 and the specific questionsand answers are chosen to depict various conditions that may beencountered in various educational levels and depending on theeducational subjects being pursued. Likewise, the dice can be thrown byhand, shaken and discharged from a dice cup or electronically generated.

For example, one side of a dice indicating “incomplete” earns a playerno credit, one side of a dice indicating “expulsion” deprives the playerof a credit already earned at the particular level. Once a player hasearned the full credits for graduating at a particular level, they areno longer subject to the consequences of the rules pertaining to thatlevel during the course of the game. Also, a player who gets an“expulsion” who does not yet have any credits at that particular levelcannot be affected.

The above rules and similar rules may be provided and offered with theplayer ultimately graduating from all levels being termed the winner ofthe graduation game. It will be appreciated that the various rules ofplaying the game may be varied to enhance the interest in the game bymaintaining competitive situations throughout each of the levels of theeducation system. Also, the question and answer cards may be directed toparticular areas of information such as sports, science, arts, politics,geography, physics and the like.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalentsmy be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

1. A graduation game in which players simulate the experience ofgraduating through a plurality of educational levels in an educationsystem, said graduation game comprising a game board having a planarupper surface provided with indicia indicating the players of the gameand indicating educational levels in an education system includingelementary school, high school and college levels with bachelor, mastersand doctorate degrees, a plurality of game cards having questions andanswers printed thereon, a plurality of dice having color coded sidesand symbols to control the award of credits earned at each level of theeducational system in addition to players correctly answering questionson the question and answer cards, and color coded game pieces indicatingthe credits earned by the players at each level of the educationalsystem by placement on the game board.
 2. The graduation game as definedin claim 1, wherein said game board indicating the players of the gamebeing of circular configuration with numerically indicated arcuatesegments delineated thereon to indicate the credit domain occupied byeach player.
 3. The graduation game as defined in claim 1, wherein saidgame board indicating the levels of the educational system is dividedinto seven segments with the elementary school level being at a base ofa triangular configuration and the summa cum laude designation at anapex of the triangular configuration located at a center of the gameboard.
 4. The graduation game as defined in claim 1, wherein the gamecards have a question printed along one edge thereof and an answerprinted below the question with certain additional facts related to thequestion on each card printed along the opposite edge of the cardreadable from opposite ends of the card.
 5. The graduation game asdefined in claim 1, wherein said symbol on the dice indicates a penaltyor award of credits at each level of the education system.
 6. Thegraduation game as defined in claim 1, wherein the player obtainscredits to advance from the elementary school level through thedoctorate level by rolling the dice or answering certain questionscorrectly thereby vicariously experiencing the satisfaction ofgraduating from the different levels of the educational system andultimately earning the title summa cum laude.
 7. The graduation game asdefined in claim 1, wherein the game board is circular.